Computer Maintenance Tips
Computers tend to bog down over time. Some simple maintenance every 2-4 weeks will just take 10-20 minutes, can be performed at any knowledge level and will keep your computer operating smoothly. With this guide, and a few downloads, you'll see a strong improvement. This is reasonably basic and something every computer user should do.
Note: Before deleting anything from your computer, it is best to have all your essential documents, files and personal records backed up on a zip disk, removable hard drive, or other backup device. Windows users can always do a System Restore to recover their computer settings back to a specific point in time, but it's better always have importmant files backed up just in case.
Remove programs you no longer use or knew about:
Over time, you might have installed games or utilities that you forgot about or no longer use. Why waste the space? Go to your control panel, Add\Remove programs and uninstall anything you no longer use. Sometimes you will discover a toolbar or other item you were unaware was there!
Installing Only What You Need
You might want to install the full version of Microsoft Word 2008 on your hard drive, but if you only use Excel or PowerPoint a few times a year, don't install all of Office 2008. It will use up over 2.5 gigabytes of space and slow down your hard drive considerably. If people send you a variety of different types of files, invest in Jasc Software's Quickview Plus program. Quickview Plus will permit you to read, write and edit over 200 file types. So you do not need to install the software for every single file type you'll ever use, especially if a lot of stuff comes across your desk for review in formats that you don't do a lot of work with yourself.
MSN Network and Online Services
Do you use them? If not, just delete MSN from your desktop, and Online Services from both your program files and your desktop. This is another big space saver. If you change your mind, they'll still be on your Windows CD and you can reinstall them, but there's no point in holding on to them if you don't use them. After you are connected to the Internet, the Internet Connection Wizard is another one you can say goodbye to.
Working with Downloaded Zip Files
If many your programs come in .zip format (a lot do these days, particularly ones you download from the Internet), create a directory for those too, and call it "c:\executables" or c:\zips. Following the installation of a program, move the .zip file into "executables or zips folder" When that file starts getting large, burn a copy of everything in it onto a CDR. If you do these things, you won't have a lot of homeless installation files spread out across your computer, and you'll have backups of all your programs in case you need to reinstall them - just make certain to delete them from your computer after you have burned them to CDR so they won't be taking up space.
Working with Mp3's and Photos, and Graphics
In time you'll discover that you have hundreds of megabytes of photos or MP3's on your hard disk taking up space. Now you don't want to lose them but the real estate they are leasing on your hard drive is too valuable. Burn those onto a CDR or copy them to a Zip disk. You'll recover anywhere from 650 to 2 megabytes of space. You likewise want to keep an eye on your fonts, icons, wallpaper and screensavers. Remember, the more stuff you have on your hard disk, the more sluggish and error-proned it will be.
Remove programs from your startup:
Frequently when you install a program, it will ask you whether it should load up as soon as Windows loads (or it may just decide to do so on its own). Here is a HUGE time/space culprit on the average PC. See all those icons in the lower right corner of your screen? Those are all being loaded on startup, and those are not all of them either!
Do the following:
- Start Menu > Programs > Startup. You'll find programs in this folder, just delete the ones you do not want to start with windows.
The more programs you have attempting to start up simultaneously, the slower your computer will start. Also, all those programs running in the background while you try to work will slow your computer's response time.
Cleaning your hard drive of needless files:
One of the greatest problems is hard drive useage. Your hard drive has more moving parts than any other in your computer and is constantly adding, deleting and reorganizing files. Because of this, you need to clean your computers hard drive. First of all you need to delete all your trash, temp files, and files you no longer need. While in a perfect situation these temp files are deleted when the applications close, but they aren’t. With badly written programs, computer crashes, hanging programs and incorrect shutdowns always leave needless temporary files on your hard drive. These files accumulate and begin consuming hard disk space and start impairing computer performance. If your computer is running at a snails pace then deleting the piled up temp files might help to speed it up.
Do the following:
- Start > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup (In the alternative, you can right click on your "C:" Drive, click "Properties", "Disk Cleanup")
- Select the drive you want to clean (typically "C:"). Once it's finished, select the items that you no longer want.
- Recommend: Clean 'Downloaded Program Files', 'Temporary Internet Files', 'Recycle Bin' and 'Temporary Files'.
ScanDisk: Now click on the tab marked "Tools", and in the section labeled "Error Checking" or "ScanDisk" click the button labeled "Check Now". When the window appears, click "Start". This will check your hard drive for a variety of different kinds of errors. If errors are discovered you'll be prompted to "fix" them. Select the option to "Fix" if any errors are found.
Disk Defragmentation: Now that you've deleted all of this garbage, you have defragmented files all over your hard drive. Reading and writing data on a heavily fragmented hard drive is slowed down as the time for the heads to move between fragments on the disk surface can be significant. The files on your hard drive now probably look like a box of tacks after you open them and toss them on the ground. Defragmenting your hard drive would be as if the box of tacks still unopened. All neat and tidy and easy to access.
After the ScanDisk (or Error Checking) function has finished, you'll be brought back to the "Tools" window. In the "Defragmentation" box click the button that says "Defragment Now". The defrag window will come up and then click "Start" or "Defragment", depending on the version of Windows you have. The Defrag might take some time, but when completed all your programs and data will be in the optimal order (no longer "fragmented"), permitting your hard drive to operate more quickly and efficiently (and not work as hard, perhaps extending it's life).
Updating and running your Virus Scanner:
You must have a Virus Scanner, even if you don't spend time on the Internet. You can still get viruses from shared floppies and even loading programs from CD's. Don't run the risk of not using one and not keeping it up to date. There are two parts to virus scanning. First you must update your virus scanning program weekly. To do this you'll need to be logged onto the Internet. Once you update your virus scanner with the new signatures, you should run a virus scan. This checks your hard drive for the presence of viruses and extinguishes them. Many programs today do all of this for you automatically.
Checking "Windows Update" and installing anything Critical:
All recent versions of Windows have the "Windows Update" feature installed, typically in the start menu. Sometimes it is located elsewhere, but can be located by going to Help and in "index" type "Windows Update". If you can't find it, log on the Internet, open your web browser (Internet Explorer) and type "www.microsoft.com/windowsupdate" and this will also get you there.
You must be logged onto the Internet to do this. Once you click on the "update" link you get to a Microsoft page that will permit you to select "Product Update". Click on this and your computer will be checked for updates. You'll be given a choice of updates available to your computer. Here we suggest that you download (the install is usually automatic) anything listed in the category "Critical". These pertain to fixes for security problems or program problems that have been discovered and will be repaired by downloading the critical update.
Additional updates are for less vital matters; for example updating to the latest version of Microsoft DirectX (used for gaming), or Internet Explorer, or Driver (software) updates for your hardware (video card, sound card, etc.) These can be made or not made as you choose. But always do the ones labeled "critical".
Clean Your Computer Case:
This may not sound like fun, because it's not, but dust is a huge problem that affects everyone no matter where you live. Computers need to stay cool to operate at maximum efficiency, and dust will trap heat on your CPU, RAM, video card, and other essential components that need to remain cool. If you have not cleaned the inside of your computer case (we're talking about PC's here) in 6 months or longer then you need to get right on it. Dust builds up very quickly on a computer.
Buy yourself a can of compressed air. Purchase a 1 inch paintbrush for sweeping off things. Start by disconnecting your system from it’s power source. Then begin from the top and brush all the dust off that you can with the paintbrush and work your way down to the bottom of the case. Brush all the dust into a pile and use a piece of paper as a dust pan to get rid of the dust. Then take the can of compressed air and blow out your cd drive and floppy drive; begin from the top again and blow the system down to the bottom of the case. Be gentle when dusting inside your computer - only a little effort is required to remove dust.
A great deal of computer repair can be prevented by maintaining your computer so that it's always in working order. If you build up a routine and stick to it, then you should fend off the larger problems by always being on top of the smaller ones!
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